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FITTIPALDI, THE MOST IMPORTANT BRAZILIAN PILOT IN F1
World Motorsport has always been centered in Europe and the United States. Whether they like it or not, South American drivers were viewed with suspicion by Europeans (see Helmut Marko's unfortunate statement about Perez in September 2023). Fangio also went through this, he was not treated well within Ferrari in 1956, he fell out with Enzo Ferrari, became champion and left the team.
For Brazil Wilsinho Fittipaldi was the pioneer for a Brazilian team in F3. In F1, Emerson Fittipaldi played a fundamental role in breaking the paradigm and paving the way for Brazilian drivers in F1 and later in Indy.
In 1965 Emerson Fittipaldi was São Paulo kart champion, then in 1967 he was Brazilian champion. Still in 1967, he was Formula V champion with 5 victories in 7 races.
In 1968 Emerson won the 100-mile karting in Piracicaba (SP) and also won the 12 hours of Porto Alegre in a VW 1600 (José Carlos Pace came in 2nd place in a Ford Corcel).
In 1969 Fittipaldi arrived in Europe, debuted on pole in the 1st F Ford race, but broke the car on the first lap of that race. He continued in the championship and ended up being the F Ford champion with 4 victories in 6 races.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYEMVgoZYAA&t=1232s (CHANNEL BY THE TRACKS)
Still in 1969, he made a more surprising feat, he entered the middle of the British F3 championship in June and managed to become the champion, with 8 victories in 11 races, beating Jackie Stewart's record from 1964. This record was beaten by Piquet in 78 and Senna in 83, with 13 victories.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aOVwTrSUPg&t=16s
This caught the attention of Colin Chapman who gave him an opportunity with the Lotus team in 1970. In the 1st test with the Lotus 49 C in Silverstone, he scored 1m22s6 and was 1 tenth faster than the time that Jo Siffert had done in the practice of the British GP 1969 with the same Lotus 49C.
Newspaper O Globo of 07/05/1970
He entered F1 in the middle of the 1970 season, even with an outdated Lotus 49C model, he was riding at the same level, and sometimes even better than the second drivers (John Milles and Reine Wisell). With the death of Jochen Rindt, he was given the chance to be the first Lotus driver and in the 1970 US GP, Brazil's first victory in F1 took place with Emerson Fittipaldi at the wheel.
In 1971 Lotus were not doing well in the championship and Colin Chapman brought an innovation mid-season that went wrong: the problematic "Lotus turbine". This car had to carry almost 300 liters of kerosene and the turbine did not produce engine braking which made braking very difficult compared to other cars. As a result, the Brazilian did not have good results.
In 1972 the Brazilian became champion for the Lotus team, disputing against the great Jackie Stewart. To date Emerson is the only champion in F1 history to have scored every point for his team during the 1972 season.
In 1973, Emerson started well, but a series of breaks in the middle of the championship and the fight with Colin Chapman, took away his title chances.
In 1974, Emerson transferred to McLaren, he fought fiercely against Regazzoni and Lauda in the very strong Ferrari, and became the first champion driver for the legendary McLaren team in F1.
In 1975, the Lauda-Ferrari duo completely dominated the season. Emerson was "the best of the rest", was the runner-up and even set up the car for Hunt to be champion the following year (this was said by Hunt himself).
In 1976 he moved to Copersucar/Fittipaldi getting some podiums over the subsequent seasons, great results considering the quality of the equipment.
In 1978, Emmo came in 2nd place in the Brazilian GP and placed in a great 10th place in the championship with 17 points. That year the Copersucar team was ahead of more structured teams such as McLaren, Williams and Renault.
In 1984, Emerson Fittipaldi moved to F Cart and was the first Brazilian to win the Indianapolis 500 in 1989 and 1993, and was champion of the category in 1989, showing the United States the talent of Brazilian drivers and once again opening the doors, this time in North American motorsport (F Cart, Champ Car, F Indy, IRL).
For all this, Emerson Fittipaldi can never be forgotten, he was the MOST IMPORTANT Brazilian driver for Brazilian motorsport.
CURIOSITY: Emerson Fittipaldi didn't do any fastest lap in the years he was F1 champion (72 and 74), showing that he was a driver who knew how to save the car, was fast but didn't go to the limit to reach the end of races.